Riggs reads this Globe story, the one in which Dan Grabauskas said ridership on the T is up and notices that the MBTA general manager says part of the reason is due to "the change to all two-car trains on the Green Line last year," and that makes him wonder what planet Mr. G. lives on:
... Perhaps you and (Green Line chief) Deborah Gies should speak on operational expectation versus reality. The Green Line routinely runs single-car consists on the B, C, and D branches. ...
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Comments
The first runs of the day
By Anonymous
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 5:24pm
The first runs of the day are always single car. Theres no need for 2 car trains at 5:45am, but its a lie to say the line always runs two car trains
Late runs are single car, too
By BStu
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 5:38pm
Not even super-late ones. I've also seen single cars on weekends during the day. I'll grant that they are less frequent than they once were but not by a massive amount. I'd hardly call it a significant reason for a jump in ridership.
Still, though, the issue is that the story says there is an all-2 car service, not an often-2 car service. Of course, it also says that he won't add trains. Even though he says ridership increased because they added trains. So, I guess the MBTA won't be trying to increase ridership anymore. Must be way they allow all those fare jumpers.
There are single car runs quite often
By Brett
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 6:04pm
For example, on the E line, there are a lot of single-car runs on the slow evening hours. It's fine, as long as as there's plenty of room for everyone.
What I don't get? When trains are packed to the gills, why they don't run 3 and 4 car trains, since all the station platforms are wide enough for them. It's not like the 5-6PM mad dash every weekday is any giant surprise.
Why have longer trains? Everyone tries desperately to smoosh onto the first two-car train. The second train with room sits outside the station waiting for every dumb schmuck to pack himself into the first one, and thus is useless.
The problem is compounded by MBTA operators who won't simply shut the doors and let people learn from a bruise or two that they shouldn't step on unless there's room for their sorry butt, and when the chimes sound, you better get out of the way.
Oh, and there's never MBTA cops or inspectors or "station agents" on the platforms. At least on the orange line, you get idiots who hold the doors open until the rest of their posse shows up (or until they've finished their conversation with their buddy on the platform- that's my favorite.)
3 Car Trains
By Arborway
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 6:29pm
They can't have longer trains until Kenmore, Copley and Arlington are finished. Considering the multi-year delays at Kenmore, the almost complete lack of any activity at Copley in the better part of two years and the fact Arlington's inbound platform doesn't even have the beginnings of an elevator shaft yet (the whole thing was scheduled to be done March 1st) we're not going to see them anytime soon.
And guess what is scheduled to occur just after the end of construction on those stations? Why the renovations at Government Center!
Government Center renovation
By Ron Newman
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 6:30pm
Isn't that going to be only on the Blue Line level, though?
I was under the impression
By Arborway
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 7:14pm
I was under the impression they were going to rehabilitate the entire station.
That's what the T says
By adamg
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 7:20pm
The entire existing Government Center station will be renovated and modernized.
Here's what I don't get
By Arborway
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 7:54pm
They mention rebuilding the platforms for ADA compliance, yet all of the recently-rebuilt Green Line platforms fall just short of the low-floor Type 8s. I'm not sure why that is.
Because the type 8s let out
By Anonymous
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 10:04pm
Because the type 8s let out a small ramp, which meets the slightly lower platform. I assume its because of the doors, but Im not sure why they did this. You have to push the wheelchair button to get the ramp
Yeah, I know about the
By Arborway
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 11:29pm
Yeah, I know about the extendable ramps, but wouldn't it save a ton of time if the disabled could simply roll on and off of the Green Line without having to get an operator to stop what he's doing, walk back, extend the ramp, retract the ramp and walk back to his seat again?
An extra 2 or 3 inches up, and out toward the train on each platform could solve the problem. Why go to the trouble of rebuilding something so it is only marginally more useful, and still essentially broken?
As I said, I have no idea
By Anonymous
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 11:49pm
As I said, I have no idea why this design was chosen. I assume it's for door clearance on the type 7s.
Personally, Id prefer one
By Anonymous
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 6:37pm
Personally, Id prefer one car trains every 2 minutes instead of a 3 car train every 6 minutes.
one vs two cars
By hrose
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 8:19pm
the signalling in the congested central subway would never cope with trains that frequent.
All weekday trains on all
By Anonymous
Mon, 04/07/2008 - 9:05pm
All weekday trains on all four Green Line branches, including first and last trains, are scheduled as two-car trains.
On Saturdays, the B line has two-car trains all day long. Single cars are scheduled on the C, D, and E lines until 10:30 AM and after 6:00 PM
On Sundays, all four branches have single cars until 10:30 AM and after 6 PM.
It is true that all WEEKDAY Green Line trains are scheduled as two car, but not true that ALL Green Line trains are scheduled as two-car.
hey, maybe he's talking
By sarah
Tue, 04/08/2008 - 11:55am
hey, maybe he's talking about the old 'A' line that used to run through allston down brighton ave...
the T
By femmme.fatal
Tue, 04/08/2008 - 12:05pm
This blog should be called 'the T and its issues' gripes and more gripes